Wikipedia defines BLUETOOTH® (hereinafter, “BT”) as a “wireless technology for exchanging data over short distances . . . from fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area networks (PANs).” Where the PAN is BT based, the PAN is referred to as a “piconet”. The PAN includes a master device, containing a BT transceiver, and one or more slave devices. Under the BT 4.x specifications, the typical range from a master to a slave is less than 10 m, although obstructions to line-of-sight between interacting devices, and various other types of interference, may reduce that range. Under the BT 5.0 specification, the typical range is about four times that of 4.x, again subject to line-of-sight. BT 5 is backward compatible with BT 4, but the range for interaction between a BT 4 device and a BT 5 device will be the lower, BT 4, range. Under BT 4, the maximum number of connected slaves is 7; under BT 5, there can be up to 999 connected slave devices.
BT slave devices connect to a BT master according to a profile. The profiles include, among others, an advanced audio distribution profile; an audio/visual remote-control profile; a handsfree profile; a headset profile; a file transfer profile; and a human interface profile. BT 4 prevents a master from having multiple simultaneous slave connections using the same profile. BT 5 removes this limitation.
BT-enabled devices (i.e., devices containing a BT transceiver) include, for example, computers, tablets, mobile phones, headsets, hearing aids, and the Internet of Things (IoT). For purposes of this document, including associated claims, a hearing aid will be regarded as a headset.
Applications of BT protocols include, for example: audio or visual communication, such as mobile phone transmissions; transmission of a document to a printer or other device (e.g., IoT); and sharing of documents (e.g., photographs) among users.
In general, a “communication system” may enable certain devices to communicate electronically. A given communication system may utilize any kinds of hardware or software; it may be wired or wireless; it may use any information format or protocol; it may be a PAN, a LAN, or a WAN. Communication systems are recursive, in the sense that any combination of communication systems is itself a communication system.
By a “venue”, we mean any place where BT (or other PAN type) wireless service is to be made available to users. A venue might be, for example, a room, a plurality of rooms, a whole building, a plurality of buildings, a sports stadium, or an area in a park.